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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Pushing Through The Perils of Teaching Online

...This was unfamiliar territory. In my march toward tenure, I had consistently received stellar teaching evaluations. I throw myself into classes and experiment with new material, techniques and technologies. I work at learning the strengths and weaknesses of my students, always making time for them and learning about their aspirations. That has paid off, not only with tenure but with an award as the college journalism and mass communication teacher of the year.
I bring that up to offer perspective, not to boast. On the one hand, I was being told I was among the best of the best teachers. On the other hand, many students told me I was a failure online."

Friday, August 24, 2012

The eLC Accessibility Work Group would like to share some valuable resources with you. We invite you to view the two highlighted videos below, as they tell the story of access from those who need it most. Bear in mind, however, that accessibility benefits all students which is our ultimate goal via universal design principles.

YOUTUBE Videos highlighting what accessibility looks like to those who need it:

This July, the Shoreline Virtual College, a comprehensive community college just north of Seattle, went from project to product, from ethereal to earthly, from dream to … well, you get the idea.
It is absolutely a work in progress, but it also has progressed to absolutely working.The Vision
Our effort had an inauspicious beginning. At a brown-bag, all-comers campus lunch on Aug. 26, 2010, our president, Lee Lambert, said, ““Technology can provide the platform to build a college within a college.” Then, using the analogy of a store that has a physical location to serve some customers, but can serve many more with an online store, he added: “What if we had a virtual store?”

So begins the the story of Shoreline Community College’s journey in moving their ‘virtual college’ from an idea to a reality.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

For years, colleges have used placement exams to determine whether to deem incoming students “college ready” or assign them to developmental education. But emerging research has cast doubt on the practice, sparking national debates over whether the tests are fair and if their traditional use constitutes a barrier to college completion.

JFF brings clarity to the discussion in its new report, “Where to Begin?” by Pamela Burdman. The report helps state and college leaders understand the latest research, make sense of the contentious debate issues, and most importantly, evaluate their own options for moving forward.